Key facts
- Name: Nancy Marleine Snow
- Age at disappearance: 44
- Last seen: November 6, 1980, in Annapolis, Maryland — picked up by her housesitter, Paul T. Collins III, the morning after the 1980 election
- Location: Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland
- Description: Adult woman; political fundraiser for the Republican National Committee; multilingual
- Status: Still missing; detectives consider it a homicide case, but no body has been found and no one has been charged
- Investigating agency: Annapolis Police Department — tip line 410-280-CLUE (2583)
The morning after the election
On November 5, 1980 — the day after Ronald Reagan was elected president — Nancy Snow flew into Baltimore. She was 44, a political fundraiser for the Republican National Committee, multilingual, sharp, connected. She’d spent the fall working a Senate campaign in St. Louis. She attended an election party that night in the Baltimore-Annapolis area.
The next morning, November 6, her housesitter — Paul T. Collins III — picked her up. That is the last confirmed sighting of Nancy Snow.
What Collins said happened next has never added up. According to him, a man he called “Captain Jay” had offered Nancy work as crew on a yacht sailing from Fort Lauderdale to the Caribbean. Collins said Nancy left Annapolis with $1,000 in cash and planned to be home by Christmas.
No Captain Jay was ever found. No boat. No record of Nancy’s passport ever being used. She never came home for Christmas, or any Christmas after.
Three daughters, forty-five years
Nancy had three daughters — Stacy, Justine, and Kimberly — teenagers living in California when their mother vanished. They grew up, built lives, and never stopped looking.
In October and November 2025, marking the 45th anniversary of her disappearance, the sisters launched a public campaign: a reward fund and a GoFundMe to generate new leads, directing information to the Annapolis Police Department. The story traveled — SWNS covered it in October 2025, and the And Then They Were Gone podcast took up the case in November 2025. Dateline NBC had previously featured it on “Missing in America.”
Detectives have long called this a homicide case. But a homicide case without a body, without charges, without an arrest — for forty-five years — is a particular kind of torment. The daughters have said they just want to know. After four and a half decades, “knowing” would mean finding out who killed their mother.
The housesitter’s story
Paul T. Collins III remains the central figure in the case file. He was the last person confirmed to see Nancy alive. His account — the yacht, the captain, the Caribbean — produced nothing verifiable. Investigators have described him as a person of interest.
He has never been charged in connection with Nancy’s disappearance. He is a living person, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven otherwise in a court of law. That matters, because forty-five years of suspicion is not the same as evidence, and this publication will not treat it as such.
But the facts of his story are the facts: no Captain Jay, no yacht, no passport use, no Nancy. Every element of the last account of her movements dissolved on contact with investigation.
The daughters’ campaign
Stacy, Justine, and Kimberly were teenagers in California when their mother vanished from the other side of the country. They grew up with a hole where the explanation should have been — a mother who flew to Baltimore for an election party and never came home, a housesitter’s story about a yacht captain that dissolved the moment anyone checked it.
In October and November 2025, for the 45th anniversary, they did what their mother would have done: they organized. A reward fund. A GoFundMe. Media outreach that landed coverage from SWNS and the And Then They Were Gone podcast. They directed every tip to the Annapolis Police Department — the agency that’s carried the case for 45 years without closing it.
There’s something particular about daughters searching for a mother. Nancy Snow was 44 — younger than her daughters are now. They’ve spent more of their lives without her than with her. The campaign wasn’t really about the money; reward funds in 45-year-old cases rarely produce the call that breaks it. It was about refusing to let the case die with the generation that remembers 1980. It was about saying, on the record, in public: our mother was a person, she mattered, and someone knows what happened to her.
Dateline NBC’s “Missing in America” had covered the case years earlier. The 2025 push brought it back — and with it, the central, unanswered fact: Paul T. Collins III picked Nancy Snow up on the morning of November 6, 1980. Everything after that is his story. And his story has never checked out.
Nancy Snow was multilingual, connected, and sharp — a political fundraiser who’d worked a Senate campaign and flown into Baltimore for election night. Women like that don’t evaporate. They leave paper trails, phone records, credit card receipts. Nancy left none after November 6, 1980 — which is itself the evidence. A woman this embedded in the world doesn’t go silent voluntarily. The silence is the testimony.
Theories
Homicide by someone close to the case
Detectives’ own assessment: this was a homicide. The last confirmed sighting was the housesitter pickup; the cover story about the yacht collapsed completely. Evidence level: This is the official investigative stance, but without a body or forensic evidence, it remains unproven. No one has been charged. Presumption of innocence applies to all living persons.
She left voluntarily
The yacht story, if any part of it were true, would suggest Nancy chose to go. Evidence level: No part of the story has ever been verified — no captain, no boat, no passport use, no contact with her daughters in 45 years. This theory has nothing beneath it.
Accident or misadventure after leaving Annapolis
Evidence level: Pure speculation; no evidence of any kind supports it, and her complete disappearance from all records argues against a simple accident.
Have information?
Contact the Annapolis Police Department — anonymous tips: 410-280-CLUE (2583). For an immediate police response: (410) 268-4141.
In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- 1936 — Nancy Marleine Snow is born.
- Fall 1980 — Nancy works on a U.S. Senate campaign in St. Louis.
- November 4, 1980 — Election day; Nancy flies to Baltimore and attends an election party in the area.
- November 6, 1980 — Housesitter Paul T. Collins III picks Nancy up in Annapolis — the last confirmed sighting. Collins later claims a “Captain Jay” offered her yacht-crew work to the Caribbean; she leaves with $1,000 cash, expecting to be home by Christmas. No captain, boat, or passport use is ever found.
- 1980s–2000s — Detectives treat the case as a homicide; no body is found, no charges filed. Dateline NBC features the case on “Missing in America.”
- October–November 2025 — Her daughters Stacy, Justine, and Kimberly launch a reward fund and GoFundMe for the 45th anniversary; SWNS and the And Then They Were Gone podcast cover the case.
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Nancy Snow still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Nancy Snow remains missing. She vanished in November 1980 and has never been found.
Was Nancy Snow ever found?
No. No trace of Nancy — no body, no confirmed sighting — has ever been found in forty-five years.
What happened to Nancy Snow?
She was last seen on November 6, 1980, in Annapolis, Maryland, being picked up by her housesitter, Paul T. Collins III. His account of a yacht trip to the Caribbean with a “Captain Jay” was never verified. Detectives consider it a homicide case, but no one has been charged.
How old would Nancy Snow be today?
She was 44 when she disappeared in 1980, so she would be about 90 years old in 2026.
Who was Paul T. Collins III?
Nancy’s housesitter and the last person confirmed to see her alive. He told investigators about the yacht and “Captain Jay.” He has never been charged and is presumed innocent.
What are Nancy Snow’s daughters doing now?
In late 2025, Stacy, Justine, and Kimberly launched a reward fund and GoFundMe campaign marking the 45th anniversary of their mother’s disappearance, directing tips to the Annapolis Police Department.
Sources
Official / law enforcement:
– Annapolis Police Department — tip line 410-280-CLUE (2583) (per official APD media releases, annapolis.gov)
News:
– SWNS — coverage of the daughters’ 45th-anniversary campaign (October 2025)
Reference:
– GoFundMe — “Help Bring Justice for Nancy Snow” (daughters’ campaign, 2025)
Media:
– Dateline NBC — “Missing in America” segment on Nancy Snow
– And Then They Were Gone podcast — episode on Nancy Snow (November 2025)
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.